There hasn't been a lot of love for Rashaad Penny in early drafts. He's been injury prone, of course, and Seattle drafted Ken Walker in the second round. Penny missed some time last week due to a groin injury. Walker is being selected before Penny in most places. But that is probably about to change.
Penny was back on the practice field yesterday, apparently ripping off a 40-yard touchdown run. And Walker? Well, in Pete Carroll's understated report, "He's got a little hernia thing that he's working on."
I'm neither a doctor nor do I play one on TV, but I don't recall any instances of the word "hernia" coming up in connection to a running back injury and being considered a "little thing." Carroll indicates it's a multi-week injury by adding, "making sure he's OK by the opener is what we're shooting for." The opener is three weeks away, which makes it reasonable to assume that that's the shorter end of whatever timetable Carroll has been given. Probably be more details in the next day or two.
I and the rest of the world are somewhat less optimistic than Pom-Pom Pete, so it feels very safe to me to say that Rashaad Penny will be not only starting (expected) but also featured (not as certain if the rookie were healthy) in the early part of the season, and maybe longer. The injury risk remains, but that should bump him up draft boards this week.
Penny will lose work to a third-down back, probably Travis Homer or maybe DeeJay Dallas. Penny has caught just 23 passes in 37 career games, and only 6 last year. But he should get the vast majority of the carries, and there should be a lot. Last year Penny played more than half the snaps in just four games. In those contests he had 16, 17, 25 and 23 carries. Dial him up for another 15-20 carries per game in September. (If he can stay healthy, yes.)
Last year Penny appeared in 10 games. In those contests he averaged just under 75 rushing yards. Only 6 running backs averaged more yards per game, among backs to play at least half the season.
| RUSHING YARDS PER GAME, 2021 (8-PLUS) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Run/G |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 8 | 219 | 937 | 4.3 | 10 | 117.1 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 17 | 332 | 1811 | 5.5 | 18 | 106.5 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 14 | 228 | 1259 | 5.5 | 8 | 89.9 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 13 | 249 | 1159 | 4.7 | 6 | 89.2 |
| Elijah Mitchell, S.F. | 11 | 207 | 963 | 4.7 | 5 | 87.5 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 16 | 292 | 1205 | 4.1 | 13 | 75.3 |
| Rashaad Penny, Sea. | 10 | 119 | 749 | 6.3 | 6 | 74.9 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 273 | 1065 | 3.9 | 12 | 71.0 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 17 | 307 | 1200 | 3.9 | 7 | 70.6 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 13 | 240 | 898 | 3.7 | 4 | 69.1 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 13 | 225 | 849 | 3.8 | 7 | 65.3 |
| Antonio Gibson, Was. | 16 | 258 | 1037 | 4.0 | 7 | 64.8 |
| D'Onta Foreman, Ten. | 9 | 133 | 566 | 4.3 | 3 | 62.9 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 12 | 137 | 754 | 5.5 | 0 | 62.8 |
| Damien Harris, N.E. | 15 | 202 | 929 | 4.6 | 15 | 61.9 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 17 | 237 | 1002 | 4.2 | 10 | 58.9 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 217 | 872 | 4.0 | 9 | 58.1 |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 14 | 180 | 812 | 4.5 | 8 | 58.0 |
| Melvin Gordon, Den. | 16 | 203 | 918 | 4.5 | 8 | 57.4 |
| Darrell Henderson, LAR | 12 | 149 | 688 | 4.6 | 5 | 57.3 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 16 | 206 | 911 | 4.4 | 12 | 56.9 |
| James Robinson, Jac. | 14 | 164 | 767 | 4.7 | 8 | 54.8 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 15 | 171 | 799 | 4.7 | 4 | 53.3 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 17 | 203 | 903 | 4.5 | 4 | 53.1 |
| Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 10 | 119 | 517 | 4.3 | 4 | 51.7 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 17 | 188 | 870 | 4.6 | 7 | 51.2 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 12 | 133 | 606 | 4.6 | 5 | 50.5 |
| James Conner, Ariz. | 15 | 202 | 752 | 3.7 | 15 | 50.1 |
| Sony Michel, LAR | 17 | 208 | 845 | 4.1 | 4 | 49.7 |
| Chase Edmonds, Ariz. | 12 | 116 | 592 | 5.1 | 2 | 49.3 |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 8 | 78 | 386 | 5.0 | 5 | 48.3 |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 15 | 130 | 719 | 5.5 | 2 | 47.9 |
| D'Andre Swift, Det. | 13 | 151 | 617 | 4.1 | 5 | 47.5 |
| AJ Dillon, G.B. | 17 | 187 | 803 | 4.3 | 5 | 47.2 |
| Jamaal Williams, Det. | 13 | 153 | 601 | 3.9 | 3 | 46.2 |
| Michael Carter, NYJ | 14 | 147 | 639 | 4.4 | 4 | 45.6 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 13 | 162 | 593 | 3.7 | 2 | 45.6 |
| Dontrell Hilliard, Ten. | 8 | 56 | 350 | 6.3 | 2 | 43.8 |
| Mark Ingram, 2TM | 14 | 160 | 554 | 3.5 | 2 | 39.6 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson, Atl. | 16 | 153 | 618 | 4.0 | 6 | 38.6 |
| Alex Collins, Sea. | 11 | 108 | 411 | 3.8 | 2 | 37.4 |
| Devontae Booker, NYG | 16 | 145 | 593 | 4.1 | 2 | 37.1 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 17 | 172 | 612 | 3.6 | 5 | 36.0 |
| Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 17 | 173 | 612 | 3.5 | 3 | 36.0 |
| Devonta Freeman, Balt. | 16 | 133 | 576 | 4.3 | 5 | 36.0 |
| Latavius Murray, Balt. | 14 | 119 | 501 | 4.2 | 6 | 35.8 |
| Darrel Williams, K.C. | 17 | 144 | 558 | 3.9 | 6 | 32.8 |
| Jeff Wilson, S.F. | 9 | 79 | 294 | 3.7 | 2 | 32.7 |
| Tevin Coleman, NYJ | 11 | 84 | 356 | 4.2 | 0 | 32.4 |
| D'Ernest Johnson, Cle. | 17 | 100 | 534 | 5.3 | 3 | 31.4 |
| Alexander Mattison, Min. | 16 | 134 | 491 | 3.7 | 3 | 30.7 |
If you're drafting this week, Penny is the Seattle back to be strongly considering. With Walker, I'm going to need more injury information before I consider him.
--Andy Richardson